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Appealing to the enemy, breaking boundaries 173

is more, disappeared, all the more so as the enemies of France and of
the Pope had great interest in discrediting the Pope’s image, already
quite compromised as it was by the unscrupulous nepotism that had
characterized his political actions. Examination of the letter books of the
Ottoman chancery now incline us to tend towards their authenticity. In
any case, among the incongruences of the sources and possible
adaptations there must have been something authentic and something
to hide in those pages, all the more as the Pope did not make the effort
to declare them as false. Thus the consideration is absolutely credible
that «between the totally genuine and the complete fake there is an
infinite range of gradual variations» (Ricci, p. 64). And anyway – Ricci
notes – the Pope undoubtedly asked for help from the Sultan in the
attempt to block the conquest of Naples on the part of Charles VIII and
he became furious with the culprit of the ambush, excommunicating
him with the accusation of violation of Pontifical correspondence and
theft of money (the 40,000 ducats destined towards Cem’s maintenance).
On the other hand, the incredible escape between Ancona, Mantua and
Venice of the Sultan’s military messenger (Kasim) who had fallen into
Giovanni Della Rovere’s trap, «traces a geography of the philo-Turkish
positions existing on Italian soil at that moment» (p. 59).
In this scenario the position of the Gonzaga of Mantua deserves
some attention. Francesco II Gonzaga – great connoisseur of Turkish
horses, symbols of status and wealth, indispensible in war, «precious
economically and replete with symbolic value» (p. 91), probably at the
basis of the friendship between the Marquis and the Sultan – in 1510
was prisoner of the Venetians. It is certainly significant that his wife,
Isabella d’Este even made appeal to the Sanjak of Bosnia to obtain his
freedom so that Venice would intercede in his favour: Ricci considers
that the person was in effect «a reliable intermediary between two
friends (or two non-enemies) of the Turks, Mantua and Venice, who are
momentarily at odds with each other» (p. 94). The fact remains that
Gonzaga was freed and certainly not thanks to the King of France or
the Pope, his powerful allies.
The agreement between Frederick II Gonzaga and Suleiman the
Magnificent a few years later appears to be more disturbing in an era
in which, between 1526 and 1529, or rather between Mohács and the
siege of Vienna, Europe was being heavily threatened by Ottoman
armies on the Hungarian front. Italy was there, almost within their
reach, and the position occupied by Mantua was undoubtedly
strategic. It was precisely in these circumstances that the Gonzaga’s
betrayals against their allies occurred, but there was also an
ambiguous correspondence between him and the Sultan, filled with
heavy expressions, of things said and not said, virtually a coded
language, that was comprehensible only to those in the know and able

n.45 Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XVI - Aprile 2019
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)